What s New in This Third Edition?

What's New in This Third Edition?

Digital photography has become even more exciting since I wrote the previous edition of this guide. For example, it's now easier than ever to connect your camera directly to a portable printer, bypassing a computer, and produce 4" x 6" snapshots. So if you love sharing pictures but hate computers, digital photography is for you too.

To help you understand how this computerless connection works, I've added descriptions on PictBridge and Direct Printing. That way, when you shop for your next camera and printer, you'll know to look for these features.

Another improvement we've seen in digital cameras is their ability to capture high-quality movies. Earlier models enabled you to record small, jerky video. Many of today's cameras let you capture full-motion, full-frame video with high-quality sound.

I've added discussions about how to manage these minimovies on your computer, and even provided tips for editing them into short feature presentations. Thanks to this leap forward in technology, you can now pack just one compact camera and capture both still pictures and movies.

All of the specifications in this guide have been updated, too everything from new formats, such as DNG and MPEG-4, to cameras with more megapixels requiring bigger memory cards.

Finally, you'll notice that I've taken extra care with the illustrations. Most of them are brand new to this edition. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to master digital photography, and that means that the pictures in this guide have to be as informative as the words that accompany them.

So let's get to taking great shots!